Newsroom

Nursing excellence the key to quality patient care

TORONTO, May 5, 2011 – The knowledge of registered nurses and the central role they play in providing quality patient care will be celebrated at a series of media conferences during Nursing Week (May 9-15).

The nurses, representing three different health-care facilities that have adopted best practice guidelines (BPGs), will demonstrate how the BPGs are revolutionizing nursing practice and helping to make their organizations leaders in clinical excellence.

The guidelines are evidence-based tools developed by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). Forty-two BPGs have been developed to date, including ones focused on health promotion such as pressure ulcer prevention, prevention of abuse against women, falls prevention, and others. Guidelines have also been developed to deal with smoking and child obesity. And, there are guidelines dedicated to treating wounds, diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

“Nursing Week is the perfect time to highlight the kind of clinical excellence these organizations are providing with the help of our guidelines. It’s care that is evidence-based, patient-centred and making our system more effective, efficient and responsive,” says David McNeil, President of RNAO.

“We’re inspired by the commitment nurses and their organizations are showing by adopting our guidelines,” says RNAO’s Executive Director Doris Grinspun, who launched RNAO’s program in 1999, adding that the program has placed nurses in a leadership position at a time when new provincial legislation, The Excellent Care for All Act is putting the lens on quality by emphasizing evidence-based practices in a way never seen before.

RNAO’s internationally acclaimed Best Practice Guidelines Program is funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and was launched in 1999 to provide the best available evidence for patient care across a wide spectrum of health-care areas. The guidelines developed to date are a substantial contribution towards building excellence in Ontario’s health-care system. They are available to nurses and other health-care professionals across Canada and abroad. To learn more about RNAO’s Nursing Best Practice Guidelines Program or to view these resources, please visit http://rnao.ca/bpg.

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario is the professional association representing registered nurses in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses’ contribution to shaping the health-care system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve.